Can Con 2015

Another Con, another blast. I hate to sound blasé about any aspect of the con-going experience, so I’ll put it like this: a great time is what I’ve come to expect from sci/fi conventions, and Can Con delivered once again.

Can Con is held in Ottawa, so each trip means I also get to spend some time with my parents. On this trip I went down on Thursday Oct. 29th and came back on Monday Nov. 2nd, so I got an extra evening and two additional mornings with them! My ride there and back was with Elizabeth Hirst and her parents, and mutual friend/author/strange funny person Ira Nayman. All of us were attending to launch Robotica, Pop Seagull Press’ latest anthology. Liz and I also started to put the word out about the re-release of The Five Demons You Meet In Hell. We had a table set up in the dealers’ room, where I spent most of my non-panel time.

The launch of Robotica went extremely well. There was cake. Yummy cake. We had five readers and a decent-sized audience, plus a video hello from Jen Frankel, who sadly was unable to attend in person. Ira Nayman read first and I read last, and good times were had by all.
I had a great reaction to my reading. Lots of laughs in all the right places, and all the other readers said they were glad they didn’t have to follow me. Ego boosts don’t come much better than that!

My panels were interesting, and free from any negativity or bad behaviour. And that includes the panel on villains! I liked that one; any discussion where I can bring up both Megatron and Veggie Tales is definitely a winner.

That was Friday night. On Saturday I had one on ghost stories, and I had no idea how that one was going to go. I’m not a big fan of ghost stories, and I think I’ve only written one (and that one was based on an old joke), but my fellow panelists had their games on and we had a good talk.

My other Saturday panel was on cult films. I was better prepared for that, with a list of my favourites. We hashed out a definition of a cult film - basically, a genre film that was poorly received at first, which went on to gain a following of devoted fans long after its initial release. I would have liked to have talked more about Army of Darkness, because who wouldn’t? And I don’t care what everyone else says, I hated The Rocky Horror Picture Show! Nevertheless, it was a fun panel.

But not fun enough to compensate for missing the paper airplane contest, which was on at the same time. :( A shame. It’s a vital part of the Can Con experience for me!

Sunday’s panels were Speculating Sex and Sexuality, and Fan Fiction Reading - The Guilty Pleasure. The sexuality panel was scheduled for 10:00 AM, and was remarkably well attended for a Sunday morning event. The audience had plenty of intelligent questions, and I think my co-panelist Derek Newman-Stille and I did a great job!

My final panel was originally going to be about reading and making fun of poorly-written fanfic stories. However, my co-panelist Mary Stormy Pletsch didn’t like the bullying tone suggested by that description, and instead pitched a more general ‘what is fanfic’ panel. I was more than happy with the new direction, as it gave me the chance to talk about my Doctor Who story Bane of the Doctor. Mary is also a Transformers fan, an unexpected bonus!

On Monday I journeyed back to Toronto with Ira, Liz and her family, and post-con depression set in. I’m delighted I had the opportunity to attend, and plan to be back once again next year.

Next up for me: SFContario!

5 Demons - Special Announcement!

Big things are afoot for The Five Demons You Meet In Hell. First and foremost, I’m removing it from Smashwords and Amazon. July 31st, 2015 will be the last day it will be available from those ebook retailers.

Does this mean it is gone for good? No. Bigger things are in store! I have just signed a contract with Pop Seagull Publishing, who will republish the novel next April both digitally and... IN PRINT! Yes, those of you who have asked for a hard copy of this epic afterlife story will finally be able to hold it in your hands and get it signed by yours truly!

When? That announcement is coming soon. In the meantime, I am permanently lowering the price of the book to $2.99 for the remainder of its run, both on Smashwords and Amazon. That’s less than the price of a Large Double-Double and a bagel at Tim Horton’s! If you haven’t read 5 Demons yet, and want to buy it for less than a Timmy’s breakfast, now’s the time to do so!

Ad Astra Saturday & Sunday

Once again I've let too much time pass between blog posts, and between the event I'm writing about and now. You know what? I barely have enough motivation to get out of bed some days. Each post that sees its way to publication here is a miracle!

Sunday at Ad Astra was a good time. I spoke on two panels, attended the Mental Health and Fandom panel that afternoon (not sure why I wasn't on that one, but whatever), and hung out and gave support to my friends.

I'd be remiss if I didn't also talk more about Saturday. That's even further back in my memory, but there were a few decent highlights: lunch with Sarah Water Raven and her minions; sitting at a table in the book signing room with Suzanne Church, who gave me valuable cane-related advice; attending my friend Elizabeth Hirst's Pop Seagull Publishing anthology launch, where I heard some very good stories from some very talented authors and even found a piece of cake with my name on it; being warned that describing the plot of my novel Evil might be offensive to religious people at the Inclusiveness in Fandom panel; discussing my Doctor Who epic Bane of the Doctor during the FanFiction panel. Good times.

Sunday started with a two-hour look at trailers for upcoming movies. We looked at the teaser for the new Star Wars movie, plus trailers for summer soon-to-be-blockbusters. Then we discussed our reactions to those trailers, which ones we thought might be cool(Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road), which films we were cautiously optimistic about(Jurassic World, Terminator: Genysys), and which ones looked like they were going to suck huge, rancid monkey balls(Fantastic Four reboot, and a shitty-looking 'comedy' called Pixels starring Adam Sandler). It's a good ting we had a full two hours to work with!

My final panel as a pro panelist was another Doctor Who discussion (I'd been on one the day before focusing on 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi). This one was about show runners Stephen Moffat and Russel T. Davies and their differing styles, strengths and weaknesses. On both panels I was joined by my good friend David Clink, who provided many intelligent insights into Whodom.

Another good convention! Happy happy, joy joy.